your term as a commissioner? something that you worked on that you prioritized during your term. okay. yes, i think the first thing that comes to mind is the fate of the ferrel cat kohl i inin the west end of golden gate park. and i was asked by community leaders to come out and look at the site. and we talked with rec and park about maintaining good habitat for this established colony. so, i think in general ferrel cats and wildlife and the indoor action between them, but that's an issue that i was involved with with the community. >> thank you. um-hm. >> so, last but not least we have shari o'neill.

good afternoon. i am dr. shari o'neill and i've been a practicing veterinarian for the last 13 years, the last 10 of which have been here in san francisco. i am a resident in the sunset district where i also work at [speaker not understood] hospital. in addition to my doctor veterinary of medicine i hold an additional degree as a masters of public health and also board certified in preventive medicine. i have a particular interest in public health and how humans and animals can coexist hopefully. i have a particular interest in disaster preparedness and i am the san francisco representative on disaster preparedness coalition for animals. i try to work with a number of groups in the city, including spca, acc, pets unlimited, sos and paws. so, i think i have a lot of

experience to bring just working with those groups in general. i recently was appointed to the disaster preparedness committee for the state with the cdma as well. any questions on my qualifications at all? >> no questions from the board. thank you so much. thank you. >> thank you for your service already on working on our disaster preparedness plan for animals. we have no further applicants. so, at this time we will open up for public comment. i do have one speaker card, glendon high. if there are any other speakers, please do line up. commissioner, good to see you. good to see you, hello, how are you doing? i'm here to speak on behalf of the very passionate jamie yorck. i think it is apparent he knows a whole lot about what is going on. he spends a lot of time there at the committee making sure he's up on what's happening before he came to apply here.

and i just want to talk about his ability for education and outreach, which i have personally benefited from and san francisco has benefited from. he's an amazing advocate. he not only takes individual animal welfare, but the general welfare of san francisco's pets as well as animal related issues to heart. and i hope that you can forward him with recommendation. and i just wanted to say it's the 16th anniversary of moving to san francisco and i couldn't think of a better person to be here representing. >> is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, public comment is closed. colleagues, any thoughts or further questions? do you want to clarify we do have one applicant for seat 7 now that ms. russo has asked only to be considered for seats

1 and 2. and we have now heard six of the eight applicants, two who were unable to be here. generally on the rules committee does not consider applicants who are unable to make it unless they are able to speak to members before hand. but, again, i think as always, we are open to considerations. i'm sorry, supervisor campos. >> thank you. first of all, thank you to all the applicants for submitting their applications and for their interest in serving the city. that's also greatly appreciated. and it's always hard to choose where you have more applicants than you have seats. so, why don't i make a motion with respect to the two seats where i think it's pretty clear in my view what we should do, and that would be with respect to seat 7 where we have only one applicant, and that's dr. o'neill who i think made a very strong presentation and i think has the kind of background that

you need. i think she will do a good job. and then also for seat number 2, the reappointment of susanna russo who is currently on the body. my feeling is that as a general rule, you want some continuity and if someone's done a good job, i think it makes sense to continue with that individual. so, i would make the motion -- my suggestion would be i guess maybe we can talk about the other seat, but with respects to seat 7 and 2, that's what i would suggest. >> thank you. so, we do have a motion to move forward susanna russo for seat 2 and dr. shari o'neill for seat 7 and leaving open discussion on, again, for seat 1. and i'm more than happy to support those two applicants as well. ms. russo, i do appreciate the time you spent on this commission and i think it's also important to have some

continuation of folks that have been working on this issue and clearly know a lot about the welfare of animals here in our city. and dr. o'neill was very impressed with you, your application, and many letters of recommendation that came on your expertise on this issue. and realizing the importance of having a veterinarian on this commission, i'm happy to support those two motions. for seat 1, i do think we have a number of qualified applicants for the seat. i do -- was interested in actually ms. fortier because as she does spend some time on -- volunteering for the sfpca and appreciate that previous commitment. as we consider candidates, always look to see kind of the previous background and also the volunteer hours that they may already be contributing to the issues that they are -- that they would like to represent to the city and county. i'll put forward that name, but again, very open to hearing

other thoughts from colleagues. >> i really like mr. yorck. one of the few applicants who i remember well from 2011 when i sat on this committee. he gave, i thought, a very impassioned presentation last year and i remembered it. and i felt bad that we couldn't find a spot for him last year. and i like the breadth of experience that he has. so, i have some concern -- i'll let you guys finish. i have some concern that the animal welfare commission is becoming the dog commission. it's the animal commission. there are a lot of animals in san francisco, and mr. yorck has a pretty unique level of experience when it comes to birds. they are animals. we have bird issues in san francisco and i think he could bring some knowledge to the commission. and certainly his passion about the work, you've heard the testimony about all that he's done over the last year, two years, observing all that the commission has done. i think he'd be a good appointment and i see it is a

bit of a mistake we made last year and i'd like to give it a shot to clean it up this year. >> supervisor elsbernd. supervisor campos? >> thank you. and again, i was impressed with mr. yorck as well. i think he has pretty impressive background. i do want to ask a question and i don't know if it's appropriate for me to ask this question, but -- i have no way of verifying this information. i don't even know that the information is accurate. but i do think that it is something i need to ask for purposes of vetting the applicant. mr. yorck, i don't know where this information came from exactly, but there was some information given to my office that at some point you had been investigated for animal cruelty and i'm wondering if you can speak to that.

where did you hear this? >> this is information that was given to us. i just want to make sure that i -- never, ever, ever heard of it. i mean, i used to have a bird store. like every pet store, you get complaints. but animal cruelty, i don't think so. >> have you been cited at all by the city and county for any issues with the store that you owned? i don't think so. maybe they told me to -- if i had too many finches in a cage, i said i'll move the finches. the regular thing a store has. you also get people who like to call, you know. >> mr. yorck, you're not instilling a hell of a lot of confidence in the guy that just put your name forward. i'm sorry. i never -- >> if you want to be -- if you

were an animal store owner, you would be able to tell us exactly how many times you received a citation. i don't think i ever. >> finches? no, someone would call the animal control would come out, and they wouldn't cite me for it. they would say, yeah -- no. sorry. >> i was looking for a stronger answer, mr. yorck. i'm not good at this. >> again, i have no reason to know that any of this is true. that's why i wanted to simply ask. do you have a name or did someone give a name or anything? was it just a nasty rumor? >> what i think would be best is perhaps if we can take -- continue this item till a later portion of the agenda and we can -- i certainly do not want the approval or the recommendation of your nomination to be based on something that is untrue or

unfounded. but i certainly think that it behooves us to deal with it. i appreciate it. >> i appreciate your -- you did submit a very lengthy application which speaks to your enthusiasm and passion for the seat. you submitted a multi-page statement which we already received back in may. so, i do really do see the passion and enthusiasm that you have for this seat. so, what i'm going to propose is that we actually continue this item till a later portion of the agenda. thank you. >> but at this time maybe we can move forward with the motion that we have currently. so, if we can move forward with ms. russo for seat 2 and dr. o'neill for seat 7, we have that motion with recommendation. we can do that without opposition. i will continue seat number 1 to a later portion of this agenda. at this time, mr. clerk, can you please call item number 3? >> item number 3, hearing to consider appointing four members, terms ending june 6, 2014, to the immigrant right

commission. >> thank you. so, i'm going to keep the same format as i had for the previous item. i'm going to call your name in the order that it is listed on the agenda. we do have five applicants with four seats, four who are actually applying for reappointment to their seat. first i will call up vera haile. i do see her here in the audience. commissioner haile, thank you for being with us today. i know that you have long served this commission. it's good to see you. i am here to ask to be appointed again to the commission. you know from my application i spent 13 years working in chinatown at self-help for the elderly, 13 years in the tenderloin at currie senior center.

so, i worked closely with immigrants. reason i want to be appointed again is i think the attitudes towards immigrants are getting better and that we as a commission have a better chance to move things forward. i worked on language access with the commission as long as i've been on it. and i would hope eventually that we would be able to conform with title 6 of the civil rights act which means we'd provide languages for everybody. languages change from time to time. now we're getting more arabic languages and in the future we may get more of the southern african languages based on the number of refugees we see moving around. and we also find the governor and president are willing to provide the dream act. and, so, we have some new hope. but we haven't gotten to the legalization of the undocumented. it has not moved, in spite of

the fact mayor bloomberg supports it. and he thinks we need them, and certainly is true and he thinks they would pay taxes and build communities. also, professor silbani from stanford thinks that they will -- are we under two minutes, too? oh, well, i just want to call your attention to dr. kiones and his crossing the border and becoming a brain surgeon that saved people's lives at johns hopkins university. and those are my long range goals. language access and easing legalization. immediately, i hope we have to make the community more accessible and welcome the immigrants and not afraid to talk about the important issues. and i'll give you copies of the things i'm leaving out. >> thank you, commissioner haile.

next we have haregu gaime. thank you, chair kim and supervisors. my name is haregu gaime and i'm an immigrant in the united states who lives in san francisco now. i've been on the commission for two years now. and for the most part in the last two years i feel [speaker not understood]. commissioner haile worked here prior to me, spoke of all the work that's being done. and i feel like we're leading up to what this commission is capable of and i've been getting exposed by going to the different districts that [speaker not understood] the city of san francisco has, one of them being your district, actually, last month, chair kim. and one of the things that i'm learning is how much the

immigrant community is unaware of what options and what possibilities and what [speaker not understood] that they have in the city of san francisco, that they don't always have to be afraid. that there is language access and they can access it. and what we as commission can do is expose them and let them know in our own communities. i know the [speaker not understood] community isn't as aware of what the city can offer them and i think that's just the very beginning of what we're doing. but the commission in the last two years that i've been under chair and now chair haile has progressed a lot tremendously over the last two years. and i think being a part of it, i feel that we are available for the immigrant community. and as was stated earlier, we're just moving forward at this time and i like the work that's being done and i'd like

the work to continue at this point. thank you. >> thank you, commissioner. thank you for being here today. teresa chee could not make it today, but let the committee and the clerk know and has submitted her letter, a statement otherwise. so, next i will call up gilbert o alexander. hi, supervisors, good afternoon. thank you for having me here. my name is gilberto alexander and i used to be with the commission until 2002 and i had to go to new york and i spent three years. and i came back to san francisco, which is my city. during my tenure as the [speaker not understood] committee chair, i was very enthusiastic to put forward in

guiding the excellent team that we had to have the language access amended to include other languages, and also to change to include tier 1 and tier 2 departments, tier 2 department to become tier 1, in one aspect. so, that was accomplished and that was very excited, i was very dedicated to make sure that that happened. and, so, now i applied again for seat 1, 1, 2 and 9 -- sorry. 1, 2 and 9 and 3 i believe it is. i respect the fellow commissioners very much and all the work they have done. and, so, my goals would be to

continue if i'm allowed to become a commissioner, the good work that i believe i had done with the commission in terms of language access. i have -- you know, this coming year we have immigration reform. we have amnesty, we have the dream act. and those issues are very important and i would like to really delve into it if i'm allowed to be once again a commissioner. thank you. >> thank you, mr. alexander. and we also do have a statement from elahe enssani who currently sits as commissioner as well. i know that he is out of the country and has sent a statement otherwise. but i do see our director from the office of civic engagement, adrian and [speaker not understood]. i just want to give you an opportunity to speak about the commission. i'm a big fan of the immigrant commission and i want to thank all the commissioners who currently serve on that commission. i think you do incredibly important work and really enjoy

joining you at the district 6 meeting last month. yes, good afternoon, madam chair and supervisors. my name is [speaker not understood] fuentes. [speaker not understood]. and unable to join us. but he and i wanted to express our support for our fellow commissioners. i have worked with commissioner haile and gaime for the past several years. it is taking a while to get a group of commissioners to know the issues and can respectfully work together. finally we are getting there. we are here for the agenda and focus on the [speaker not understood] communities [speaker not understood]. we work well with each other. with the office of civic engagement and indian affairs and with the community.

recently we supported [speaker not understood] for passage of the just act and recently we were able to work with police chief sur and on expanding the vehicle [speaker not understood] policy for license drivers. we need this commission to stay together in order to make sure our goals are accomplished. please reappoint these two commissioners. thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. fuentes. mr. hahn, thank you for joining us today at rules committee. thank you, supervisors. good afternoon, chair kim and supervisors. adrian hahn, office of civic engagement and immigrant affairs and i'm here today to support the reappointment of all four of our incumbent commissioners to the immigrant rights commission. i apologize that two of our commissioners couldn't be here, but they have stated their issues and concerns and desire to stay on. i want to thank the board and

especially the rules committee for appointing qualified and diverse individuals to the commission. as you know, our office is involved in a wide variety of social justice projects including our core work around language and immigrant rights. we are about to launch some critical initiatives around the third action for childhood arrivals and citizenship and this is a partnership with a number of regional and national funders and immigrant rights organizations. so, the partnership with the irc is really important. we rely on the commission's expertise to inform and support our work and each of the incumbent commissioners brings a unique, inclusive and balanced perspective. and we really need their voices. so, thank you for advancing their reappointments to the full board and i'll be glad to answer any questions if you have any. >> thank you, ms. hahn. from my understanding, ms. chee has a perfect attendance record at the commission. yes. >> that's unusual. it is unusual she was unable to

attend today. yes, she just gave birth to her second child and she's a working nurse. so, she wasn't able to adjust her schedule. >> thank you, ms. hahn. at the time we'll open it up for public comment on this item. if you'd like to speak. seeing no public comment on this item, public comment is closed. supervisor campos? >> thank you very much, madam chair. and again, thank you to all of the applicants who have come forward. the immigrant rights commission is a very important commission and has played a very key role in the last few years on issues involving a large number of our residents. you know we have a large immigrant population in san francisco and we have a long history with immigration in san francisco which is one of the reasons that this commission was created a long time ago. and, so, i want to thank all the applicants.

but my motion, i'm going to make a motion to reappoint the four commissioners that have reapplied for reappointment. and, so, it would be a motion to reappoint vera haile to seat 1, gaime to seat 2, theresa chee to seat 5, and commissioner enssani to seat 9. so, that's my motion. >> so, we do have a motion to move forward all four incumbents to the seats that they currently reside in and i'll accept we can do that without objection. i do want to -- i'm just take the time to thank our commissioners. like all of our task forces and commissions, it is fully volunteer, but you speak and represent the city on very important issues and spend a lot of time reaching out to our communities, in particular with this commission i think works

on a lot of issues that are near and dear to my heart, coming from an immigrant family. and i do really appreciate the diversity of this committee and also the dedication that i feel that the commission represents. i'm happy to support all four incumbents. supervisor campos? >> what i want to add, what i have been impressed with, lately we've had a really good synergy on that commission. there is a very good working relationship. i think a lot of work has been done. so, i'd like to see that continue, which is why i make my motion. so, i want to thank the commissioners for the great work they're doing. >> thank you. and i do want to thank mr. alexander for applying. i know that you remain involved with this commission through sitting on the program committee as a chair and want to thank you for your service as well. so, we do have a motion to move forward these four names to the board with recommendation. we can do that without opposition. mr. clerk, can you please call item number 4. >> item number 4, hearing to consider appointing two members, terms and the april 10, 2013 to the graffiti

advisory board. >> thank you. and we do have both applicants here today. and i will call you again in the order. first mr. drew lindner. and also, mr. lindner, if you could clarify if you are a property owner here in san francisco. i am not. >> you are not a property owner. i began getting involved with graffiti 18 years ago as a manufacturer of antigraffiti products and it became a passion, not just the selling of products, but getting involved in the cities and communities helping them defeat the issue, whether it be painting, using products, whatever it took. i traveled around the country dealing with different communities and two years ago formed a nonprofit called stop urban blight. what we originally formed this, nobody knew how to report graffiti around the cities. it was a wet based initially. we have phone numbers for

reporting graffiti. we have educational training online as well. and last year we began doing what we call city greets, getting cities together to share what's working, not working in their communities. even though cities are next to each other, they hadn't shared ideas. we formed an advisory meeting and haven't missed one meeting since. [speaker not understood] graffiti conference in 2013 in san francisco. very proud to be part of. >> thank you, mr. lindner. did read your application, was very impressed. especially someone who is not a resident here in san francisco -- i come here at least twice a month. >> keep coming. >> we appreciate your commitment and dedication here in san francisco. i just have to say that what is listed at least on the graffiti advisory board for the seat that you have applied is you must be a property owner here in san francisco.

so, we'll be asking questions about that requirement, being that you don't fit that requirement. sure. my understanding was there is a possibility of a waiver, but what i wanted to mention is dealing with business owners, that would be my main goal, to actively work with the businesses to help them find ways they can help eliminate graffiti in their businesses. so, it is not once a month coming for a meeting. i plan to be actively involved in the city. >> thank you. i wonder if there is anyone here from dpw who can speak to this issue. well, thank you. we'll move on to the next applicant. mr. givener, if you would like to speak to this question. thank you, mr. givener, our city attorney. >> deputy city attorney john givener. as the committee members know, the residency requirements that

is imposed on a number of different committees and boards is waivable in certain cases when the board or committee was created by an ordinance. in this case the requirement is that the member holding the seat be a property owner. that specific requirement in the ordinance is not waivable. so, that's just a mandatory requirement. >> thank you, mr. givener. at this time, can we hear paul giusti? good afternoon, supervisors. my name is paul giusti. i'm a resident of district 8 and i am applying for the graffiti advisory committee to be reappointed. i've actually been involved in the graffiti advisory committee since the beginning. i think it's been, ghosh, i want to say 7 or 8 years now. and the work that we've done, it's just too much to really even get i